Chunks of apples nestled in a chewy dough that’s baked to golden brown perfection and coated in a sweet apple cider glaze to make these simply irresistible Baked Apple Fritters!
Skip the Messy Frying!
One of my absolute favorite things to get at the donut shop is a good apple fritter! They’re so hard to turn down! Chunks of apples nestled in soft dough that’s fried to perfection and coated in a sweet sugary glaze. YUM.
With the weather cooling down and apples abound, I’ve been craving apple fritters and decided it was due time to make my own. I’m not a huge fan of frying things at home because it’s usually a mess, so I decided to create a baked version instead. I knew this would be tricky because nothing usually beats a good fried apple fritter, but I took the risk and I’m proud to report…I succeeded! These Baked Apple Fritters are the real deal and you’d never guess they weren’t fried.
These apple fritters are made from simple, delicious ingredients. I love that they’re bite-sized for easy eating and they have a strong apple flavor from the outside in. I use Granny Smith apples, but you don’t have to! Once they came out of the oven, we couldn’t resist. It’s a miracle I actually had some to photograph for you! Warm from the oven or at room temperature, they’re amazing and addicting!
How to Make Baked Apple Fritters
If you’re looking for a special treat to bake for breakfast, brunch or a midnight snack, these Baked Apple Fritters are sure to be a hit! Let me show you how they’re baked!
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray two mini muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until coarse crumbs form.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla and yogurt. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined. Fold in the chopped and shredded apples.
Place a few teaspoons of batter in each muffin cup. Bake for 15 minutes until they just start to brown.
Remove the fritters from the oven and turn the oven broiler on high. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Transfer the fritters to the cookie sheets.
In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar and 4 tablespoons apple cider. The glaze should be very thin. Brush the glaze over each fritter and let it drip down the sides. Return the fritters to the oven and broil for 2-4 minutes until the glaze starts to caramelize the tops of each fritter. Rotate the baking sheets every minute to insure even caramelization. Be sure to watch the fritters carefully so they don’t blacken and burn.
Remove from the oven. Whisk remaining powdered sugar and apple cider into leftover glaze until it’s smooth and thick. Brush glaze evenly over broiled fritters. Let set on cookie sheets until glaze hardens, about 15 minutes.
Store baked apple fritters in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to five3 days. Reheat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds or in the oven at 350°F for 5-10 minutes.
Watch for More!
Join me in the kitchen as I make a batch of these amazing baked apple fritters!
Other Sweet Bites You’re Sure to Love
Fuel your busy day with quick and delicious No-Bake Energy Bites. With peanut butter and bits of dark chocolate, there’s no sacrificing taste when it comes to these healthy treats! These Healthy Edible Cookie Dough Bites are so so yummy! Just 5 ingredients for an easy-to-make treat that you can eat right out of the bowl! Blueberry bliss in these Baked Blueberry Fritter Bites! Fresh blueberries baked into bite-sized fritters that are tender on the inside, crisp on the outside and coated in a sweet blueberry glaze. With the same great taste as the original, these Muddy Buddy Bites deliver all the crunchy, peanut-buttery goodness without all the mess. You’ll have a ball with these delicious treats!
If you make these simply irresistible Baked Apple Fritters, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me or tag me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. 
I love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the recipes I share. Enjoy!
xoxo,
Baked Apple Fritters
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 48
- Category: Dessert
Description
Chunks of apples nestled in a chewy dough that’s baked to perfection and coated in a sweet apple cider glaze to make these simply irresistible Baked Apple Fritters!
Ingredients
- 1–1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 6 tablespoons cold butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 (6 ounce) container vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup peeled and chopped apple (about 1 large apple)
- 1/2 cup peeled and shredded apple (about 1 small apple)
- 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
- 1/3 cup apple cider
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray two mini muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until coarse crumbs form.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla and yogurt. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined. Fold in the chopped and shredded apples.
- Place a few teaspoons of batter in each muffin cup. Bake for 15 minutes until they just start to brown.
- Remove the fritters from the oven and turn the oven broiler on high. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Transfer the fritters to the cookie sheets.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar and 4 tablespoons apple cider. The glaze should be very thin. Brush the glaze over each fritter and let it drip down the sides. Return the fritters to the oven and broil for 2-4 minutes until the glaze starts to caramelize the tops of each fritter. Rotate the baking sheets every minute to insure even caramelization. Be sure to watch the fritters carefully so they don’t blacken and burn.
- Remove from the oven. Whisk remaining powdered sugar and apple cider into leftover glaze until it’s smooth and thick. Brush glaze evenly over broiled fritters. Let set on cookie sheets until glaze hardens, about 15 minutes.
- Notes: Store in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds or in the oven at 350°F for 5-10 minutes.
They definitely look yummy! I’ll sure make them! Question about storing, can you freeze them so they can last longer?
Hi Diana! If you want to freeze them, I would recommend doing so before you glaze them. Then when you’re ready to eat them, let them defrost completely, glaze and broil them. Enjoy!
You can freeze them in a air tight container without the glazing on them, do that after you thaw them heat them in the oven at 200 for 10 to 15 min and then put the glaze on them. You can reheat in the microwave for 5 to 8 seconds if thawed then glaze them. This is how I do it!
Just wanted to know if you can use blueberries instead?
Hi Diane! I haven’t tried them with blueberries, but I’ve been wanting to. If you don’t put any apple in them at all, you would probably need to find something to replace the shredded apple with. Maybe more yogurt? They might turn out just fine without a substitute though. Let me know how they turn out and stay tuned for a blueberry version soon. You’ve inspired me! 🙂
Hi Maegan! Can these be made without yogurt? Can something else be substituted?
Hi Liz! I would suggest replacing the yogurt with applesauce or sour cream. Hope this helps. Enjoy! 🙂
I made a batch using sourdough starter and milk in place of yogurt. It turned out great!
[…] Baked Apple Fritters from The Baker Mama […]
wondering what the nutritional value is for your fritters, especially the carbs. thanks
Hi Sandy! I don’t provide nutritional values at this time, but you could easily plug the ingredients into an online nutrition calculator. Just google nutrition calculator and there are several free ones out there. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Made these this morning – my family LOVED them! A nice alternative to deep fried fritters.
Hi KC! Yay, I’m so happy to hear. Aren’t they so yummy?! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi. I was wondering if you could use regular sized muffin tins instead of the minis. I imagine they’d have to be baked longer.
Hi Lainie! Yes, they would definitely need to bake longer in a regular muffin pan, but otherwise they should turn out great, just bigger! Enjoy!
I also want to make in regular muffin tins. Going to try 2 tbs of batter 18-20 minutes
Never mind now that I reread it for third time i see what I was missing
Hi Trista! So glad you figured it out. I just updated the recipe to make it clear from the ingredient list that the powdered sugar is divided in the instructions. Thanks for pointing it out. Enjoy!
Can i do it without apple cider?
Hi Willow! Yes, you could use milk or apple juice instead. Enjoy!
These are the best fritters, no more deep frying!!!
I’ve been making these baked apple fritters from the bakermama every fall for the past serval years. They are delicious! They are not hard to make but it’s serval steps and takes awhile before you can eat them but worth the patience and labor!!
Love it, Trish! Aren’t they amazing?! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Can I use something besides butter?
Hi Jennifer! You could try shortening or even peanut butter.
Was looking for a baked recipe and found these. My husband loves them. I used sour cream instead of yogurt because I didn’t have any. They turned out delicious. Thank you so much. I used Gala apples
Hello Maegan! Thank you for the recipe. My husband loves apple fritters but I don’t like the fact that is fried.
I decide to try your recipe with few changes: I used whole wheat flour (2cups), flax seed meal (2 spoons), plant base butter, instead of yogurt I used apple sauce, brown sugar (2 spoons) and only shredded apple (2cups). I didn’t put the dough on mini muffin trays, rolled them as small balls (a bit sticky) but it worked. I followed the other steps according to the original recipe. It came out DELICIOUS! My husband and I loved it. Tks 🙂
Hi Maegan, Did you mention what to do with the shredded apples? I don’t remember reading that
Thanks
Hi Iris! In step #3, it says fold in the apples which includes both the chopped and shredded apples. I just updated the text to clarify. Enjoy!
Can plain greek yogurt be used & still get a good result?
Hi Stacie! Yes, plain greek yogurt will work just great. Enjoy!
Made these for the first time today and my family gobbled them up. I left half of them plain to freeze and both the glazed and unglazed are almost gone. Definitely making more!! Thanks for the yummy recipe!!
What kind of apple did you use for the shredded apple?
Hi Ann! I like using Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples. Enjoy!
I’m not familiar with shredding apples? Can you elaborate?
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Hi Glenda! It’s like shredding cheese, but using a whole apple and shred until you get to the core. You could shred it in a food processor too. Just be sure to remove the core before shredding it. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Can recipe be baked in loaf pan & adding xtra time for baking?
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Hi Denise! I haven’t tried it so I couldn’t say for sure how it would bake up as a loaf, but it’s certainly worth a try. I would bake it similar to how you would bake banana or apple quick bread. I hope it turns out great! Enjoy!
Can you use gluten free flour?
Hi Rose! If it’s all-purpose gluten free flour, it should work well. Enjoy!
These are delicious! I made them as normal sized muffins and baked for 20 minutes. So much flavor!
★★★★★
Hello Maegan!
I baked these on parchment like drop biscuits for a little longer, maybe 22 minutes and it worked well! We loved these! Do you think they would work well with half of the sugar in the batter? They are plenty sweet with the glaze.
★★★★★
Hi Julie! So happy to hear they worked well when baked like drop biscuits. You could certainly try reducing the sugar in the batter. I would recommend no less than 1/4 cup sugar to maintain the expected texture. Hope this helps. Continue to enjoy!
Absolutely incredibly delicious, moist , yet with the fritter crunch. You cannot eat just one. The best thing is they are not overly sweet. I used applesauce instead of yogurt. I will be trying the blueberry and the pumpkin.
★★★★★
The guys loved these! Easy to make and no frying!
★★★★★
Starting over! How many fritters does this recipe actually yield? I’d like to cut the batch in half and make full size muffins.
Hi Kelly! The recipe yields 48 mini fritters and 24 regular sized fritters. I hope this helps! Enjoy!
can you use canned apple pie filling instead of fresh apples? Have several cans left over from winter stock.
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Hi Sheila! That sounds like an amazing substitute, but I couldn’t say for sure how they would turn out since I haven’t tested the recipe with canned apple pie filling. It’s certainly worth a try though. I would just recommend straining off any excess syrup or maybe using 2 cups of the canned apple pie filling in place of the 1 and 1/2 cup apples as well as the vanilla yogurt to balance out the moisture in the recipe. Hope this helps and that they turn out just as great. Enjoy!
Made them the drop biscuit way, came out great! Was very impressed how the glaze and broil method worked so well, great idea!
These are perfect and the recipe is going into my keeper file. They not only have that great apple flavor, they also have the texture of a fried apple fritter. Who needs all that oil!
★★★★★
Great recipe. A little time intensive but I halved it. I did half regular and half gluten free. Both were great. Thanks.
So I want to make these the day before
do I wait to put the glaze on the next day after I heat them ?
Hi Mary! Yes, I would recommend you do the glaze steps just before serving although they do store well in the refrigerator and are best reheated in the oven at 350°F for 5-10 minutes to crisp them back up. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
I used apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider! Oooops! I realized I didn’t have the cider at the glazing stage, so I mixed the icing sugar with the apple cider vinegar, about a tablespoon less than the recipe and added a bit of 1/2 and 1/2 to get the correct consistency. Glaze tasted great! Not vinegary! But like cider! So I am very happy it all turned out!
Mmmmmm! Mmmmmmm! Mmmmmmmm!
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Mmmmmm! Mmmmmmm! Mmmmmmm!
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Made them today and my husband and kids both raved about them they’re good heart as well as room temperature absolutely fabulous. I made them three different ways one in a muffin cup, a regular size cake cupcake cup and also on a cookie sheet. The best shape resulted from using the mini muffin pan.
★★★★★
Hi Meagan, I don’t have a broil option on my oven. What do you recommend?
Hi Suzy! You could try turning your oven to the highest temperature and placing the fritters right up under the heating element. They may take a little longer to crisp up. You could also try them in a toaster oven on a pan or in an air fryer on a pan, if you have one of those. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Totally a hit for all ages….makes them this weekend 2 days in a row!!!!
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I have never cooked with Apple Cider Vinegar before! So tart and sweet loved these! Thank you!
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We made these delicious bites, we found them super moist almost tasted undercooked, however the flavor was exceptional. Fairly easy recipe to follow. I will make them again with a few adjustments.
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Hi these look delicious. ..can I skip that last step with the balance of the powdered sugar? Just think this will make them too sweet.
Hi Rosie! They are so delicious! You can definitely skip the final glaze, but they won’t have that classic glaze taste that a good apple fritter usually has. Should still be delicious though! Enjoy!
Delicious! It only made about 18 in the normal size muffin tin for me though. My great grandma, mom, dad, and siblings loved them!
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Are the apples peeled?
Hi Kate! Yes, I peel the apples, but you don’t have to. They would bake up great either way. Enjoy!
I have done a lot of baking in my life, including 20 years professionally, but this recipe baffles me. Are 1 egg, 6 oz. of yogurt and 1/2t vanilla the only wet ingredients? I cut my butter into the dries and stirred them together and there was nowhere near enough to wet all the dry mix. I tried mixing the apples in, thinking that would add some moisture, which it did, but it was nothing like “batter”. More like a large mess of damp flour. I finally added 1/2 c of cider to get it to mix together, but that seemed a bit to much, so I’ll try 1/3 c next time. IDK how no one else had a problem.
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Hi Ginny! Yes, the egg, 6 ounces yogurt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla provide plenty of moisture along with the chopped and shredded apple. Did you add 1/2 cup shredded apple? Are you sure you measured your dry and wet ingredients correctly? The images of the batter within this post are very accurate as to what the batter should look like. I’m wondering if something wasn’t measured correctly? We bake these often and I’ve never had an issue with the batter being dry. It should be very moist. I hope you get to try it again soon.
LOL, anything is possible. The final result was more of a cookie than a fritter (I had done them drop-style on a cookie sheet) but the family loved them, so I’ll definitely be trying the recipe again. I’ll let you know how they do on the second try
Have you tried baking these in a (Non-stick) cake pop maker? Any tips for making adjustments?
Hi Beth! I haven’t, but it’s certainly worth a try. I think the method would remain the same. I hope they turn out just as great! Enjoy!